the road trip

I think that’s where I am! Waking up on Maui this morning, I wasn’t feeling too good, so I decided, actually more like forced, myself to meditate. Anyone who has attempted and/or succeeded in having a regular meditation practice could probably attest to the fact that it is not always easy. Just like training for anything, whether it’s a sport, a class, a job, etc, it’s not always easy, and you don’t always want to do the work, but it’s the knowledge that if you push through the rough times, the brighter times will be on the horizon, and that’s the motivation to keep going.

Completely unaware of time, I spent as much time as my soul felt I needed in a meditation, and upon coming out, I realized I spent almost two hours doing so! But all the blah-ness that I felt upon waking up had subsided when I “woke up” from my meditation. Feeling calm, centered, and healthier than before, my mom joined me on our lanai (Hawaiian patio) for her morning coffee. I am unusually blessed to have parents who have both pursued similar meditative, energy work training, and my mom has taken some of the classes that are offered through the program I’ve been taking. As she asked me questions about meditating, we were able to discuss ideas such as the often over-emphasized goal of “clearing one’s mind”; an idea that has recently come up in more than one conversation/interaction I’ve had with others. As I explained my perspective and shift in focus from “clearing one’s mind” to accepting that it is not clear, and recognizing and working the energy the has influenced that clarity, which would ultimately lead to clarity. It’s not about drowning out the noise in your head, so much as it is about facing the noises so you can let them go. We went further into discussion about the year-long meditation/clairvoyant program I am finishing, and how it has entirely changed my life. I see everything differently, I feel differently, I have recognized and in a way harnessed the power within myself to actually create the life I’ve wanted, and moving forward I am more confident about who I am and where I’m going (figuratively of course). As we spoke, all of a sudden a perfect rainbow materialized in front of our lanai. We could see the beginning, the end, every color, and the perfect arch associated with idyllic rainbows of the imagination. I did in fact momentarily think, maybe I could swim out there to the end of the rainbow and find the metaphorical pot-of-gold! But I think I may have already found that gold within myself; it felt like a little confirmation of both our conversation and of all the energy work I had done in this mornings meditation. I started humming the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” but could not, for the life of me remember all the lyrics, so I decided to look them up and the first three verses are listed below: Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream, Really do come true. Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, Away above the chimney tops, That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow Why, oh why can't I? I would guess that when this song was written, meditation wasn’t on the lyricist’s mind, but as I re-read these lyrics, I realized that perhaps, somewhere over the rainbow isn’t quite as inaccessible as one may believe. Through my meditation, I discovered a land that I’ve heard of once in a lullaby – the land where my body, mind, and soul are working in a concerted effort to create my life. The dreams that I’ve dared to dream, really have started to come true, and the pain I felt this morning had melted away like lemon drops. I may not be able to literally fly like a bird, but I feel as though I have found a way for my being to fly, and as a wingless human, that’s probably the closest I’ll come to flying, aside from the assistance of planes. One of the things I had meditated on this morning was about how I was feeling stuck with my writing, and as soon as the rainbow came into clear view, I was inspired. Sometimes, life doesn’t give us exactly what we had expected, but if you push yourself to work through the hard times, and allow yourself to see the abstract, I think you just might be able to find your place over the rainbow.